Seon-Hwa Lee accepted the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award at the Rolex Reception during the ADT Championship.

Watch the video of Seon-Hwa Lee's speech.>>

With a tie for 39th at the Longs Drugs Challenge, 20-year-old Seon-Hwa Lee clinched the 2006 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award.

This year's rookie class was billed as one of the most talented in decades on Tour, but Lee was undaunted in her ascension to the top of the standings. She took control of the race after the second week of the season when she played well enough to force a sudden-death playoff with Meena Lee at the Fields Open in Hawaii. Seon-Hwa Lee lost on the third hole of sudden death, but after that event she has never trailed in the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings.

She padded her lead with additional runner-up finishes at the MasterCard Classic Honoring Alejo Peralta and the LPGA Takefuji Classic before breaking through at the ShopRite LPGA Classic and becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner. To date, she is the only rookie this year with a win on the LPGA Tour.

"I had a great year, it means a lot to me,” said Lee. “It was my goal at the beginning of the year and then I never missed a cut this year so it was a lot of fun at tournaments. I really enjoyed playing, so I think I had a lot of fun.”

Seon-Hwa Lee and LPGA Founder Louise Suggs

Lee earned her exempt LPGA Tour card by finishing first on the 2005 Duramed Futures Tour season-ending money list. She won one event on the developmental Tour and was a model of consistency with 12 additional top-10 finishes. Her steady play carried over to the LPGA Tour, as she has recorded six top-10 finishes this year. Lee is ranked 10 th on the ADT Official Money List with $858,912 and also places second on Tour with 315 birdies and 13 th on Tour with a 71.0706 scoring average.

“Seon-Hwa has played incredibly well during her rookie year from the first event until now,” said Carolyn F. Bivens, LPGA commissioner. “She has consistently played at the highest level and is extremely deserving of being named the 2006 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year.”

Read the Golf World article below and watch the video of Seon-Hwa Lee's Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award acceptance speech. Seon-Hwa Lee's Speech.>>

On saying thanks
LPGA rookie knows the importance of saying thank you
By Ron Sirak, Golf World | More>>
November 24, 2006

Seon-Hwa Lee's acceptance speech brought all in attendance at the Rolex Reception to tears.

Every parent has had the conversation with his or her child about the "magic words," a discussion about how "please" and "thank you" are the keys that open the door to friendship and respect. Too often, however, the lessons learned young are erased by age and, in the case of athletes, buried beneath the sense of entitlement that comes with paychecks top heavy with zeroes.

An unlikely person in an improbable setting delivered a moving lesson on the importance of saying thanks last week. And anyone among the rich and famous of sports who has allowed success to obscure his or her sense of appreciation needs to be forced to watch a replay of Seon-Hwa Lee's acceptance speech as LPGA Rookie of the Year. While the words were perfectly chosen, it was the fact they were delivered in English by the 20-year-old Korean that left not a dry eye in the house.

Speaking with obvious emotion and determined effort, Lee (pictured) not only said thank you, she showed her appreciation by spending weeks -- literally -- learning her speech. One of the advantages of wrapping up Rookie of the Year early (Lee took the lead in the points race the second week of the season and never trailed) was that she had ample time to prepare for the award presentation. That she used that time as diligently as she did was even more impressive than outdistancing such big-name rookies as Morgan Pressel and Ai Miyazato to capture the honor.

The LPGA awards ceremony was held at Mar-a-Lago, the magnificent mansion rescued by Donald Trump that shouts the praises of the opulent excess of the Roaring Twenties. Last Friday night it served as the stage for a humble reminder that all who succeed owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before them.

LPGA Founder, Louise Suggs, was in attendance to present the Rookie of the Year award to Seon-Hwa Lee.

That Lee thanked LPGA founders Louise Suggs and Marilynn Smith, who were among the attendees, displayed a sense of history often overlooked by young players who forget that it was not always possible to win $1 million playing golf, as Julieta Granada did Sunday when she captured the ADT Championship. And when Lee said, "I want to thank my LPGA family for a great rookie year," it was a recognition that her significant skills were supported by friends and colleagues in a way that allowed success to bloom.

Each word delivered, every sentence completed in the three-minute speech was like a birdie putt drained, and the deeper Lee got into her presentation the more the emotion bubbled within her, the more her voice cracked and the more her eyes glistened with tears. When she finished, she pulled the papers her speech was written on to her face and tried unsuccessfully to hide her sobs. The standing ovation she received was as spontaneous and as genuine as Lee's display of emotion. It was all real, and that is increasingly rare in sports.

None of this was easy for Lee. This was a speech that needs to be shown in the locker room of every sport, professional and amateur. This was a reminder to those athletes who have forgotten that their sport made them -- and not the other way around. Sometimes, they say, the child is the teacher of the parent. That was the case at Mar-a-Lago when a 20-year-old golfer stepped out of her comfort zone and, in words from an unfamiliar language, reminded us all that no one should ever lose sight of the importance of saying thank you. More>>